Not Applicable.
Not Applicable.
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to communications and, more particularly, to systems and methods for telecommunications mailbox messaging.
2. Description of the Background
Many telecommunications service providers offer voice messaging services for their customers. With a typical voice messaging system (VMS), when an incoming call to a subscriber of the service cannot be completed, such as because of a busy or ring-no answer condition, the caller is connected to a VMS platform that allows the caller to leave a voice message for the subscriber in a xe2x80x9cmailboxxe2x80x9d associated with the subscriber. The subscriber is then provided with a message waiting indicator (MWI) in the form of a sputter dial tone or a flashing light on the subscriber""s telephone alerting the subscriber that the subscriber""s voice message mailbox includes a message. The subscriber may then access the mailbox by dialing into the VMS platform to retrieve the message.
Many voice message systems also support mailbox-to-mailbox messaging. With mailbox-to-mailbox messaging, a subscriber may send a message directly from the subscriber""s mailbox to the mailbox of another subscriber of the service. In the past, however, mailbox-to-mailbox messaging was limited to the service region boundaries of the service provider. In telecommunications parlance, these service region boundaries are typically referred to as LATAs (Local Access and Transport Areas). LATAs are the geographic regions established by telecommunications service providers to differentiate local and long distance calls. Calls between parties within a LATA (intra-LATA) are typically handled by the local telephone service providers, and calls between parties in different LATAs (inter-LATA) are typically handled by interexchange carriers (IXCs).
In the past, mailbox-to-mailbox messaging has been limited to intra-LATA communications because voice messaging systems do not have the intelligent functionality to recognize inter-LATA communications for billing purposes. That is, if a service provider desired to offer inter-LATA messaging to its VMS subscribers, the service provider could not charge different rates (typically higher) for inter-LATA mailbox-to-mailbox messaging because the VMS system could not recognize inter-LATA communications. As a result, service providers offering inter-LATA mailbox-to-mailbox messaging are compelled to charge the same rate for inter-LATA communications as for intra-LATA communications.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a voice messaging system with the intelligent functionality to recognize inter-LATA mailbox-to-mailbox communications.
The present invention is directed to a telecommunications messaging system. According to one embodiment, the system includes a server and a first VMS platform in communication with the server, wherein the first VMS platform includes a service region comparison module. The service region comparison module may be provisioned with information concerning the service area, such as the LATA, of the first VMS platform on which it resides, and it may receive information concerning the service area of a second VMS platform from the server in response to a query message from the first VMS platform when the first VMS platform receives a command from a subscriber to transmit a message from its mailbox at the first VMS platform to a recipient having a mailbox at the second VMS platform. Based on this information, the service region comparison module may determine whether inter-service region messaging is required. The service regions may correspond to LATAs. Consequently, in contrast to prior art voice messaging systems, the present invention permits differentiation between inter-LATA messaging and intra-LATA messaging. As a result, voice and/or facsimile messaging service providers may provide different fee treatment for inter-LATA and intra-LATA messages.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, subscribers of the voice messaging service may designate whether they wish to be have inter-LATA messaging capabilities, which typically will have a greater fee to the subscriber than intra-LATA messaging, disabled by the system. According to such an embodiment, when the service region comparison module determines that a subscriber who has disabled inter-LATA messaging has initiated a command to send a message to a recipient having a mailbox at a VMS platform servicing another LATA, the first VMS platform may play a message for the subscriber to the effect that the recipient is in another LATA and that the subscriber has disabled inter-LATA messaging. According to one embodiment, the VMS platform may then provide the subscriber the opportunity to complete the message anyway for a certain fee. In addition, according to another embodiment, the service region comparison module may reside at the server, and transmit messages to the first VMS platform as to whether the recipient VMS platform services the same or a different LATA.
These and other benefits of the present invention will be apparent from the detailed description hereinbelow.